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Costa Rica is not known for it’s fine cuisine. In general, this is probably a deserved reputation as it tends to be centered around rice, beans, chicken, pork, and beef (tongue especially is very popular here). However, how the above items are combined is within the realm of the cook and that makes all the difference. I find a lot of the cooking here to be really good! Generally, beef here is terrible. I think this is due in part to the lack of vast grazing lands. Also, the concept of aging a steak is not yet part of the Costa Rican culture.

To me, it has always been a wonder why folks move to a foreign country like Costa Rica only to live in residential strongholds of their countrymen and spend all their time at Tony Romas, TGIFridays, etc.

Many never make an attempt to learn the language nor the customs of the new country. I guess they just want to be able to say they live in Costa Rica.

If there is one dish that perhaps represents Costa Rican cuisine more than any other, it has to be Gallo Pinto. Anyone considering a move to Costa Rica should give this dish a try because it will most certainly be in your life here in country!

This simple (sort of) dish contains the requisite rice and beans, but the seasonings and cooking make all the difference. Normally, this is more of a breakfast dish… often served with eggs, a breakfast meat etc., but it is by no means limited to breakfast. In fact, we had it for dinner last night.

I have sampled well over a hundred ‘versions’ of GP since I have lived here. Very few are crummy. Some are ummmm… OK. Others are good… and then there are the really good recipes. My housekeeper Jeanette makes a really good gallo pinto. My wifey makes one that rivals Jeanette’s. This is unusual because Luisa can’t make coffee. This to me is astonishing! A Tica who cannot make coffee. Oh well… she is so great in so many other areas. Also, it is really good to have a new bride who doesn’t speak English nor understand the term blog!

Now to REALLY digress…. ML just woke up and called me back to bed for morning H and K. She asked what I was doing and I told her (which is why she doesn’t have to learn English… duh!). I have tried to explain the concept of the blog, but though she understands my words, I think the concept of publishing ones diary is anathema. Diaries are private. Her’s is… all 57 volumes! Anyway, I asked her how she can make such a fine GP and suck at making coffee, She just laughed and laughed and snuggled closer. Geez I adore this woman. Ten days left.

OK… back to the subject.

The BEST Gallo Pinto though, is made by Kembly, my son’s girlfriend (novia) here in Costa Rica. Kembly can make coffee too, but her GP is special. After annoying her for many months, she finally gave me the recipe which I am adding below for anyone who is interested. In English and in Spanish BTW. Enjoy! Coming to CR? Try your hand at the national dish!

How to prepare
1. Fry onion, red pepper, garlic, cilantro in the vegetable oil, about 3 minutes.
2. Pour in the beans and add the sauce, black pepper and seasoning. Let it cook for a few minutes, but don’t let it dry out.
3. Pour in the cooked rice and mix it with the beans

This is going gto sound really weird; but my wife’s name is KEMBLY too and guess what? She is from Costa Rica, and you will have to excuse me but she is the one that makes the best Gallo Pinto in the world. Since I am peruvian I did not appreaciated it that much before but now, I will do anything for un gallo pinto bien hecho

God Bless

Andres

Tim on
January 9, 2006 12:13 pm

Well the only way to be sure is a “taste-off”! Loser has to wear a tee shirt that says she came in second in the Great Gallo Pinto Cookoff!

John on
January 29, 2006 12:43 pm

That looks like an excellent recipe, and I am going to try it tonight! Just one question, what specific “seasoning” is used? I have a whole spice rack full of different herbs and spices. Can you be more specific?

Tim on
January 31, 2006 10:28 am

Hey John… the CLUE was the Spanish version, “1 cubito”.

This is the standard chcken or beef flavored cubes used for flavoring many items such as stew, soups, etc. Use the brand you like best. Tim

i lived in costa rica for a while, i never liked the recipes they used in the city, but in the village of naranjo and the middle of the talamancan jugle, i couldnt resist another plate

brandon on
October 7, 2006 12:51 am

natilla is like sour cream.. but is sweeter and morethick in some places. having it homemade everyday in the junglw as quite something else in my journey there

Jessica T on
November 4, 2006 4:07 pm

Well, I looked at the English version first and was going to go try it when I noticed this under the Spanish version:

1 taza de frijoles cocinados con poco caldo (sencillos en el sabor)

Well, that means the “cooked beans” from the English version are cooked with a little bouillon to taste (I think either beef or pork, I’ve forgotten half my spanish, really) and I think that would probably make a difference. Yes, and the cubito is a chicken/beef bouillon cube. Also probably important. Off to try this. PS – use black beans, that is the most common.

After reading your comment that “Generally, beef here is terrible”, your blog lost some of it’s credibility. Go grab a steak at La Cascada, El Rodeo, Barbeque de los Anonos, or any one of the great Argentinian steak houses that abound and maybe you’ll upgrade that “terrible” to “satisfactory”. You are probably accustomed to corn fed, hormone injected US Prime. If you want that, by all means go to The Outback in the Escatzu Strip Mall, Carretera a Santa Ana…

I AM used to US Grade A (or i was until I got here!). In fact I was always able to buy fine beef at my local Dominicks!

I stand by what I wrote, and the vast majority of my friends who live here agree with my comment.

That is not to say you cannot find a decent steak. You just have to work a LOT harder to find one.

As for your recommendations, here are my thoughts!

La Cascada – Just OK… satisfactory, but you will not be happy with their meat if you have ever eaten at a fine Chicago or New York steak house or any of the fine steak joints around San Antonio (so long as you told them not to burn the thing!)

El Rodeo – C+ at best

Barbeque de los Anonos – Same as La Casada

or any one of the great Argentinian steak houses?

Huh? Most are crummy except for one. Now had you mentioned some of the Peruvian restaurants, then you might be on to something! They import the beef from Peru, and some of it rivals the US.

As for Outback? Oh please.

The word generally means that out of maybe 5,000 restaurants in all of Costa Rica, only a handful serve decent beef.

Dotti Merritt-Tone on
April 11, 2007 1:06 pm

I just want to recomend the Argetina Steak House in Puerta Veijo de Limon. Being from Texas and supposedly having had good steaks, I and my group were totally blow away by this resturant. It is undoubtly the best steak I have ever had. In fact every resturant that we ate in in this tiny surfing village was excellent!! Yes we the oldest people in the town and we don’t surf,we will make trips back there just for the food.

Thanks for the recipe. I loved my ex-daughter-in-law’s version but since she’s now an “ex” and I didn’t get her recipe before she became an “ex”, I’m glad to have found this one! BTW, isn’t there another Costa Rican salsa similar to Lizano? Salsa Tropical or something like that? I figure, if anyone would know, you would…Thanks!

Thanks Tim. I have Salsa Lizano; just wanted help remembering what the name of the other salsa was that I had a couple of years ago before I got a hold of the Lizano.

Dave on
December 31, 2007 12:24 am

Years ago I spent several months in Costa Rica studying Spanish. I, for one, loved the food. I became totally hooked on Gallo Pinto. I can’t afford to take my wife and kids to Costa Rica, so I am going to try to bring a little Costa Rica to us by trying my hand at Gallo Pinto. Thanks for the recipe!

I suspect the reason beef in Costa Rica is tough is that most of the meat is from Brahmin cattle varieties, which are famously bad for eating as steak.

Rich Moseanko on
March 17, 2008 10:53 am

I think you made a mistake in the recipe above for Gallo Pinto. Two tablespoons of black pepper is a bit too much, even to teaspoons.

Tony on
March 29, 2008 2:32 pm

La Cascada is the best steak house in all of Costa Rica! I am a tico that lives in California. I travel to CR 3 to 4 weeks a year and I always make a trip or two to La Cascada. Don’t bag on it!!

I travel around the world all the time and have eaten at some amazing steak houses in all the major cities of the world and La Cascada ranks up there.

Just my thoughts

Pura Vida

William Dos Santos on
May 26, 2008 10:28 pm

Gallo Pinto is a Nicaraguan Dish? I know they have it Costa Rica but originated from Nicaragua. I know there was a debate but there was an article for taste magazine that did research on the origin. They dated that it was created earlier in Nicaragua then brought to Costa Rica.

Tim on
May 28, 2008 2:22 pm

Lotta countries claim to have invented it… I too have heard that Nicaragua was first, but Columbia says they invented it. Quien sabe?

I found this recipe again so I could link to it – it is great! But (of course) the first time we made it, we used the (older) English version, and ended up with way too much pepper and Lizano (we still ate it, and it was still pretty good).

The problem comes in because “cda” is teaspoon (tsp, or t) and “cdta” is tablespoon (Tbs, or T).
And, as cooks using English recipes know, 1T = 3t…

Julie

Aimee Valle on
July 19, 2008 5:22 pm

So wait a sec. That “carne” that nobody would identify yet tastes as though it might have been beef is very likely TONGUE? I’m going to kill my mother-in-law the next time I see her.

Brenda on
August 7, 2008 10:00 am

During my stay in Costa Rica gallo pinto became my favorite main entre although it was sometimes refused to me at dinner. Some restaurant owners would say it was only served for breakfast and others would cater to much to the American pallot changing the recipe and distorting its unique flavor.

I have to agree with you that I also don’t understand why people move or decide to visit a foreign country and expect to eat at McDonald’s or Charlie Brown’s. I have even seen Americans more than once complain about people not speaking English. It is no wonder we are so disliked by most other countries in the world. When I travel I never say I’m American.

laurie on
August 30, 2008 10:07 pm

I totally agree with Tim that the steak is not very good. I was sorely disappointed in the steaks that I tried and gave up. I absolutely loved the GP especially with natilla. I am going to try the recipe posted above soon. Thanks!

Melissa Gonzalez on
September 23, 2008 4:08 pm

I know you equate natilla to sour cream, but I remember it tasting different from the sour cream that I can buy in the US. I have recently been CRAVING (5 months preggo) some REAL costa rican natilla with my gallo pinto, but it is impossible to find in the US, and all recipes i find online are for a sweet dessert dish. Is there anyway to make US sour cream taste more like natilla?

Will on
October 26, 2008 11:28 am

I followed your link to Salsa Lizano and it took me to the Real Costa Rica website and was I confronted with all books, and lots of them, perhaps hundreds if not thousands.

I searched up to about 15 pages of nothing but BOOKS without seeing anything about Salsa Lizano. I eventually gave up.

It was my impression in your original post that you actually had Salsa Lizano to sell.

If you post again regarding a certain subject and decide to place a reference link in that post could you have the link go to that particular reference page please?

At this stage I do not know if you have Salsa Lizano for sale or a book about it. Whatever the case, the page regarding the link you inserted did’nt even have any books about Salsa Lizano that I could see from the descriptions about the books, nor did any of the other pages of books I looked at.

Cheers

Will

Tim on
October 27, 2008 8:11 am

Geez Will… sounds like you’re having (or had) a bad day.

Not sure if you bothered to use the search option (selecting food and drink obviously) but up came Salsa Lizano the first time I searched.

That was the good news. The bad news is that it is apparently out of stock.

The online store is huge with, as you said, and sadly, not every product can be available at the same time. I would suggest that you re-visit in a few weeks, or, if you are having a Gallo Pinto emergency, check elsewhere on the Internet.

Tim on
November 9, 2008 4:49 pm

To make things easier, I gave Salsa Lizano its own category, so just click Salsa Lizano to see the available options (bottle sizes.

This is the best and easiest gallo pinto recipe I’ve found. I, however, add about a cup and a half of cooked rice instead of just one cup. It makes the gallo pinto a little fuller without losing any of the rich, rich flavor of the veggies and the Lizano!

Deanna on
May 2, 2009 8:34 am

Hi –I lived in CR for about 8 years growing up, so I’m gringa/tica. I am fairly certain that Julie has her measurements mixed up — cda means cucharada, or Tablespoon, and cdta is cucharadita, or teaspoon. I’m trying the recipe tonight!

linda on
August 4, 2009 1:05 pm

Julie, I think you have it backwards. Cda is the abreviation for “Cucharada” = Tablespoon, whereas Cdta is the abreviation for “Cucharadita” = Teaspoon. The -ita ending in Spanish is the diminutive, making something smaller. That -ita ending is where you get the ‘t’ in cdta.

Shannon on
August 27, 2009 10:36 pm

I was in Costa Rica in April/May and fell in love with it. Some friends and I stayed up in some cabinas north of Dos Rios and had an authentic Tica woman cook for us. For breakfast she made Gallo Pinto and that was the most memorable food of my entire trip (besides the piñas of course!). I just had my friend bring me back some Salsa Lizano when she came home for a visit a few weeks ago, so tomorrow night I plan to put your recipe to the test. Hopefully its as good as I remember!

MBL on
September 13, 2009 4:06 pm

I can’t believe you said CRican beef is terrible. I grew up poor in CR and even I can tell you the meat is just fine. Especially compared to some of the steak I’ve had in the US. Lomito? Ever hear of that? Ever get invited to someone’s house for carne asada? I’d kill (a cow) for some Costa Rican beef. We have plenty of farming lands. I don’t know why you would say we don’t. I’ve been there since I became an adult, and I’ve seen such grazing lands. Another thing, if you want to add a little old fashioned flavor to gallo pinto, dice some green mango in.

Tim on
September 18, 2009 10:01 am

Well…. I know there are some crummy steaks in the USA, but if you go to a good butcher, you get will get an aged steak and the meat has fine rippling which enhances the flavor. Here, there is little or no rippling at any butcher I have visited in over a decade. Also, the meat is not aged, a requirement for fine meat. That is NOT to say you cannot get a good steak. You can, but you have to really work at it.

The green mango idea is cool! I’ll try it! Thanks!!

Tim on
September 18, 2009 10:16 am

I hope so too!

But… I wonder what an NON-authentic Tica woman would look like

Tim on
September 18, 2009 1:51 pm

Thank you!

Mario on
October 1, 2009 1:37 pm

Hi I visited Costa Rica and had an amazing time. I loved it! Since I have been back in the US, I can’t seem to find a place that has Guanabana con leche. I have been craving it so much. Do you think someone can help with a place in California or even how to make it here at home? I recently bought guanabana puree. Im not sure if its the same but most of the internet sites said I could use this.

Thanks. =D

Terry on
January 10, 2010 10:37 am

my daughter has just finished studying abroad in Costa Rica for the last 4 months and is missing it terribly all she talks about is her morning gallo pinto I am going to try and make it for her.

dana j on
January 11, 2010 8:12 am

Hi Tim, we are in Atenas, and we made Gallo Pinto from your recipe. It turned out just great. With some nice ripe red papaya on the side, yum! We had some with dinner (we are from Nor Cal, used to rice & beans on the side – but GP is much better).
There are still things we will miss (spicy Mexican), but we must adapt to the local tastes.
DJ

Hannah on
January 23, 2010 10:15 am

I’m with Melissa- I want REAL natilla, but can’t find a way to get it or make it here in the US. Whoever said it is exactly the same as sour cream is a liar. If anyone knows a way to make it or ship it please post!

Martin on
January 23, 2010 11:25 am

I live in northern New Jersey and there is a store about 10 minutes from home where they sale of kinds of costarican goodies, like Salsa Lizano, Pejivalles, Guanabana, Sorbetos, Leche Pinito, pre-cooked Gallo Pinto and more. The store’s name is “Las Mercedes” on River St in Paterson.

thea on
March 17, 2010 6:10 pm

I lived in Costa Rica for 7 months during my college years in the early 80’s. I still crave gallo pinto and have tried to get salsa linzano to recreate it. Best place I had it in CR was near the University in a little place (not far from Examen Final) and they served it with crusty bread, natilla, and tamarind juice. Amazing. I’m back on the web again trying to find the sauce (worcheshire just doesn’t cut it!) and a good recipe. I’m going to try your recipe and try to order the sauce.
Thanks for your site,
Thea

CA on
April 4, 2010 11:36 pm

After checking your CR store I selected two packs of Salsa Lizano and then proceeded to check out. The website took me straight to Amazon check out counter. I do have an account with Amazon and previously purchased books from them. But this time my order was rejected giving reason “the item can’t be shipped outside USA” Hmm. I wonder if this great sauce is available in UAE, I have to go shopping the Spinney’s and Carrefour mega malls here. Can’t wait until my missus prepares the famous Gallo Pinto!!! Of course using your recipe! he he.

Sandi Hummer on
April 26, 2010 12:25 pm

As far as meat being good to eat, having a good flavor and being tender depends on a few factors. It all depends on the breed of cattle, what they’ve been eating, hold the onions please, & how they’ve been handled at the butcher.

Aging does make for a more tender cut of meat. We usually go for at least 27 days. That makes for the best most tender meats. Brahman meat is fiberous and never as good as Angus meat, or other English/Scot breeds.

Marbling has to do with flavor for the most part, and if molasses, rolled cracked corn, rolled oats and barley are fed long enough to build it up, the flavor is terrific. The meat from the left side of the animal is more tender as well; according to studies.

A lot of dairy cow meat is in the markets, and it is from old burnt out milk cows, and is tough as can be, and so is bull meat which is usually just ground up into hamburger, or cut up into stew meat. Both dairy cow and bull meat is so tough that this about all one can do with it.

Wayne Gunn on
June 20, 2010 5:09 pm

Thanks for the recipe, and a source for the Lizano Salsa.

I too was disappointed with beef in Costa Rica, since my notion was that grass fed meant “great” and corn fed was an adaptation of typical synthetic American Food, where every product on the shelf has corn in it in some form. Plus the cattle aren’t just fed corn, there are the unmentionable animal parts these poor vegetarian cows are fed, plus hormones like the ones that give women breast cancer and what else? Now I’ve learned from your blog about the left and right sides of the cow, burnt out dairy cows, and breed differences. I did suspect the cattle’s diet of tropical grass vs. northern grass had something to do with it.

However, the best beef hands down was in Croatia. In 2001, we got in late to a B&B near Plitvice Lakes National Park, recommended by a Croat friend. They had one thing on the menu, Beef and French Fries. We usually split meals and these portions were gigantic. We got one each and ate everything. The beef was so flavorful and tender, it was an experience I had never had before or after. I figured we’d be awake all night after eating that mountain of pomme frites and “kilo” of beef each, right before bed, but we slept like babies and didn’t feel “stuffed” like after pretty much every US restaurant meal. I think the hormones and pesticides may be part of the problem, not to mention the cannibalistic feed. Now I eat beef once a month or less for health concerns, since I have always lived in the US and grew up on it in the Midwest. Anyway, no Costa Rica beef came close to this Croatian beef. Disclaimer- maybe they just called it beef and it was wild caught who-knows-what? But it wasn’t gamey, it was mild but very flavorful…. I just don’t have the words. Now my curiosity is spurred, and I will have to try Hearst Ranch grass-fed beef, grown on the grounds around the Hearst Castle State Park in California. Even though it is 5 times more expensive than the grocery ( but less than a steak house), being a near-vegetarian it will come in much cheaper in the long run and healthier too.

We found this gallo pinto blog because we had GP this morning for breakfast and it is our favorite when we visit Costa Rica. The reason we happened to have rice and beans was we went to a Cuba Restaurant in Orange, CA 2 days ago and the portions were huge. We got 8 total meals out of it!, from the 2 $12 meals we ordered, which included a pile of rice and a quart of black beans. But it was bland Cuban style, and needed to be spiced up to Costa Rican standards (that is a joke, but it is true!).

will on
September 15, 2010 9:34 am

What kind of rice? (white, brown, etc.)

Canned beans? Or dry?

Chicken or Beef Bullion cube? (and do you use the whole cube? those little things pack a wallop.)

[…] adds some bacon to their mix. Find the Joy in Each Moment uses butter as the base for cooking. The REAL Costa Rico Blog gives you the recipe in English and Spanish. The BackPacker uses chicken broth rather than the […]

Jessica on
July 20, 2011 6:56 pm

Thank you for this recipe! This was the first time I made gallo pinto for my Tico husband and he ate it all up! I think we’ll use a little less Salsa Lizano next time, but other than that, it was great! Thanks for sharing

[…] we cooked up so gallo pinto, Costa Rican style. Fortunately we still had some Salsa Lisano left over. After tonight we need […]

Janet on
August 22, 2011 4:11 pm

Such fun to read about GP. My son married a beautiful Costa Rican woman. I visited them three times to see Grand Daughter. Yes, GP was my very favorite. Now This little family lives close to me in Seattle, WA. I make GP daily for the 2 year old. It is her favorite food. Since eating this daily, my 67 year old digestive system is in perfect working order!

I do add Tabasco,’s Chipotle pepper sauce before eating. Have been creative; added it to a bed of spinach, with sliced avocado, red onion and tomato to make a wonderful salad.

By the way, I get Salsa Lizano at the Latin Store in Pike’s Place Market, Seattle.
Also, your recipe is what I use, but no black pepper.

We just got back from Costa Rica, where we had a cook to prepare all of our meals except for when we took a day trip to Nicaragua. The food was fabulous!

The morning of the Nicaragua trip, we had breakfast at one of those little roadside restaurants that seem to pop up every few miles in Costa Rica. There, we had gallo pinto and eggs for breakfast. The gallo pinto was fantastic, and since my kids love anything having to do with beans, I wanted to find a recipe I could make at home. So thanks for the above…I will be trying it very soon!

Tim on
October 8, 2012 6:55 am

From Tim: Victor is stating:

1. That Gallo Pinto is a dish from Nicaragua and that it never was Costa Rican in origin. Many Nicaraguans believe this as do the Colombians and a few other countries in Central/South America.

Costa Ricans believe they have the “rights”. All is nonsense of course as Gallo Pinto has been around for at least 100 years and likely much more and certainly in many forms. I have had GP in Nicaragua and it is good! Different though as the one I tasted did not use Salsa Lazano which Costa Ricans would view as blasphemy.

2. He goes on to state this recipe contains many errors. That is silly as that recipe is 100% correct. It came from my daughter-in-law who got it from her mother, grandmother, etc

[…] . Okay, so I set out to make Gallo Pinto tonight. I looked up recipes here, here and here, and armed with 3 very similar recipes set to cooking. Of course, right off the bat […]

Melissa on
February 22, 2014 12:24 pm

I saw miles and miles of grazing land in Costa Rica, mostly populated with Brahmin-type (or Transvaal) cattle. I was impressed by the quality of the beef (loved the Lomito!) and the condition of the livestock I could see. Much of the Grass (but I don’t think all) is Bermuda-type, which might give the beef a bit different flavor from US grass fed/or corn fed beef.
I fell in love with Lizano sauce and will be keeping it in my kitchen from now on!